Cabin by the Lake
by YankeeFan87
Summary: Shawn, Gus, and Juliet become the victims of a cat-and-mouse game when they're trapped in a cabin in the mountains of Santa Barbara. To make matters worse, they're in the middle of a torrential rain storm and something's wrong with Shawn...
1. Chapter 1

**Apologies to anyone who knows anything about SCUBA diving. I made up everything in this chapter related to that, and I'm sorry if it's completely inaccurate.**

* * *

"Gus c'mon, we could totally solve this case."

"Na ah no way Shawn. You remember what happened the last time we took your dad's boat."

"We caught Shabby's killers? Who also turned out to be diamond smugglers! That was one of our best cases!"

"And your dad made us clean out his shed, paint his house, _and_ do his laundry for a month. A month, Shawn!"

Shawn laughed at that. "He won't find out this time. Scout's honor."

"You got kicked out of the Boy Scouts, Shawn," Gus pointed out.

"Dishonorably discharged. And I was framed."

Gus glared at him, not budging.

"Come _on_, buddy! My dad won't even be back until 5. We take the boat, solve the case, and return before dinner. He won't have a clue."

Gus looked back at Henry's house as if trying to decide if Shawn was even telling the truth about his dad not being home. "I thought they already had the killer in custody."

Shawn nodded. "Yeah, Rodrigo Estevez. But they can't convict him without the bodies. You know their motto. 'No body no crime.'"

"Why do you care so much about closing this case anyway? Chief Vick refused to put us on it. We won't get any money even if we do find the bodies."

I'm sure she'll reconsider once we find the damning evidence," he said. "Plus, Jules can't come to the cabin until this case is closed."

Gus grinned. "Oh I see how it is. Well maybe you should just stay here too and Rachel and I can have a romantic weekend _alone_."

Shawn snorted. "Nice try. I'm the one that got the house from Sal - no way are you getting it to yourself."

The house was actually a cabin, though a pretty nice one at that. It was large enough to fit six people comfortably and, located on Big Pine Mountain in Los Padres national forest, was far enough away from the main tourist areas that it afforded a quiet - and private - getaway. Sal Barber, one of Henry's old friends from the force, used to invite Henry, Shawn and Gus up to the cabin during hunting season, and many of Shawn's best memories from his childhood took place up there. Shawn hadn't been back in more than 15 years, so when he had run into Sal at one of Henry's poker games, he had jumped at Sal's offer to borrow the cabin for a weekend.

Gus grumbled but didn't deny the truth to that statement. And to be honest, he was grateful Shawn had chosen to invite him and Rachel up to the cabin instead of just taking Jules up there for a romantic weekend alone. "Fine," he sighed. "But if your dad finds out we took his boat, _you're_ the one doing the laundry."

Shawn smiled widely. "I knew you'd come through, buddy! Okay, I just need to grab a few things and then we can get going."

* * *

Gus waited in the Blueberry while Shawn rummaged through his dad's garage, emerging after ten minutes carrying what looked like scuba gear - and relatively new gear at that.

"Shawn, where the hell did you get this?" Gus asked, stepping out of the Echo to meet Shawn before he could put the equipment in the car.

Shawn hoisted it up so Gus could get a better look. "The wet suit and the fins I've had for awhile," he explained, "but all this other stuff I got from a case I worked while you were on one of your work retreats."

"Shawn, this is really expensive equipment!" Gus exclaimed, looking at the regulator and BCD that his best friend had piled onto the heap.

Shawn just shrugged. "The people I helped out own that SCUBA shop on Presidio. They were _very_ grateful," he added, smiling proudly.

Gus closed the trunk, going around to the driver's seat. "I didn't agree to the scuba diving, Shawn. It's dangerous and you need to be a licensed professional to operate that stuff on your own."

Shawn reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and a small card that he handed to Gus.

Gus squinted at the fading print. "Shawnito Spencer, certified _SCUBA instructor?"_ Gus asked, confused. "Just because you make yourself a card, that doesn't mean you're qualified!"

Shawn took the card back, studying it himself. "Gus, if I had forged a scuba diving card, it would have looked _way_ cooler than this. And for your edification, I _am _a certified instructor. I spent a year in Mexico instructing co-eds on vacation. Best job _ever_."

Gus looked incredulously at his best friend. "I still think it's a bad idea, Shawn. That was what, ten years ago? You can't remember how to do everything."

Shawn scoffed. "Gus, this is me we're talking about. I remember _everything_. Plus I had something like 2,000 dives under my belt. Trust me, I remember what to do. And anyway, how do you expect to find the bodies if we can't dive deeper than a few feet?"

Gus conceded that point but was still wary. "How are we supposed to find the dumping grounds? The police already performed an extensive search of the area and came up with nothing."

Shawn closed his eyes, playing back images from the crime scenes and the one victim's hand that had showed up on shore. His own deductions had led him to conclude that the bodies had all been dumped far enough off the coast so that a casual ocean-goer wouldn't stumble upon the bodies. But he also had a hunch it wasn't exceedingly far from the beach. Which would mean it had to be somewhere very deep...

"Shawn!" Gus said loudly, like he had repeated his name several times with no reaction. "You don't have any clue, do you?"

Shawn shook his head. "There was something on the one victim's hand. A piece of coral..." he trailed off, again picturing the extremity in his head. Angela Pilat - the first victim of the supposed "Santa Barbara Butcher" - was 22 years old and an aspiring actress. Her hand had washed up on shore with a rare type of coral only found in caves and in depths exceeding 100 feet - much deeper than a human could dive without SCUBA gear. And Shawn had seen it before...

"I have an educated guess," Shawn relented, knowing Gus wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. One glance at his best friend confirmed he was right. "Look, buddy, if we don't find them today, we can give up. Better yet, you and Rachel can have the cabin to yourselves. I'll stay home and surprise Jules with dinner."

Gus still seemed reluctant but he turned the key in the ignition anyway. "This is a terrible idea," he muttered, pulling out of the Spencer driveway and headed toward the harbor where Henry's boat was docked.

"Nothing?" Gus asked after Shawn had surfaced for the fourth time. They had been out on the water for almost two hours and Shawn continuously came up empty-handed. Shawn shook his head dejectedly. "Maybe your hunch was wrong," Gus suggested. He knew Shawn was determined to find the bodies, but he looked exhausted. Gus would have offered to dive but he didn't know the first thing about SCUBA diving and didn't think Shawn would be the best person to teach him.

"One more time," Shawn said, panting a little. "I just need to go a little deeper," he added, preparing to dive back down.

"Well hold up," Gus said before Shawn had a chance to go under again. "Is this even safe? I think you should come up and take a breather. You probably need to switch oxygen tanks anyway." Shawn reluctantly agreed, knowing that Gus was probably right. And he _was_ getting tired. He passed the gear up to Gus, then climbed onto the deck, struggling as the fins caught on the side. Gus pulled him the rest of the way over and he lay on the deck for a few minutes, closing his eyes.

"Why are you so certain this is the place?"

Shawn opened one eye, squinting against the sun. "Something about the coral on the victim's hand. I've seen it before, the last time I went diving around here."

"You mean you've done this before? Alone?"

"You were at your work retreat!" Shawn defended meekly. "It was just once, anyway. There's some underwater cave around here. These are the correct coordinates. I think I'm just not going deep enough..." Shawn trailed off, closing his eyes again.

"How much more oxygen do you have?" Gus asked, crouching down next to Shawn.

Shawn squinted up at his best friend, reaching for the oxygen tank attached to the vest he had removed. "Not enough," he said, pushing himself up into a seated position. "I'll switch it out before the last dive. That should give me about an hour. Plenty of time."

Gus looked like he was going to argue that sentiment, but his cell phone went off before he had the chance, Right Said Fred's "I'm too sexy" blasting for a second before Gus had the chance to pick it up.

"Man, you really need to change that ringtone!" Shawn shouted to Gus's retreating form. Shawn shimmied over so that his back was against the deck and checked his watch. Two fifteen - they still had enough time to get the boat back to the dock before Henry had a clue it was gone, but it was going to be close. Especially if they found the bodies and had to call the SBPD in. He had finished changing out the oxygen tank by the time Gus returned.

"Rachel?" Shawn asked, seeing the dejected look on his friend's face.

Gus nodded. "Her flight was delayed again and she won't be able to make it back to Santa Barbara until tomorrow morning."

"She still gonna come up to the cabin?"

"That's what she said," Gus shrugged. "She said I could go up with you and Jules tonight, if that's alright."

"Road trip! Of course, buddy! See if Maximus wants to join us!" Gus's glare shot daggers at Shawn. "Just kidding," Shawn placated. "Where is the little guy anyway?"

"Staying at a friend's house for the weekend."

"That's probably for the best," Shawn said, smirking at Gus's obvious annoyance. "Alright, should we do this? I'm starving and the sooner we finish this, the sooner we get pineapple smoothies."

"Didn't your dad say he wanted us to come over for dinner tonight?"

"Oh shoot, I did promise him, didn't I? And Jules. Damn. I guess we have to go if we want him to let us borrow his truck."

"I still can't believe he's letting you take that up the mountain."

"He said he didn't want to worry about us getting stuck with Jules's Beetle. I think he just trusts her more than me."

"Can you blame him?"

"Nope, not at all. Alright, let's get this done. We're running short on time, and if my dad finds out we stole the boat he _definitely _won't let us take his truck."

"Okay, but be careful," Gus said, helping Shawn up and handing him the equipment he'd discarded earlier. "I don't want to have to deal with your dad if something happens to you," he joked lightly, but his eyes were serious.

Shawn nodded. "Don't worry, buddy. I got this."

* * *

Shawn was almost there. He knew he had gone deep this time and he could feel the pressure increasing as he dove even deeper. The ledge of the underwater cave came into view and Shawn silently congratulated himself. This was the place. He knew it.

Kicking his feet a little harder, Shawn gave himself one more push until he had reached the cave. It was dark and the meager light from his headlamp didn't allow him to see more than a few feet ahead of him. He continued along slowly, one hand feeling along the length of the edge of the cave.

"Come on, where are you?" Shawn thought, frustrated. He was running out of time and this would most likely be his last shot for awhile. Shawn was preparing to duck into the cave for one final look around when he felt the ledge he had been grasping give way in his hands. "What the..." he thought, holding out the piece of rock. Shawn held it up close to his face, illuminating it with the headlamp. And what he saw almost stole his breath. It wasn't a piece of rock that he held but a human hand, most of the flesh stripped away by scavengers.

Shawn ducked beneath the ledge, for the first time apprehensive about what he might find. He didn't scare easy, but the prospect of finding a serial killer's dumping grounds this far under water was both exhilarating and terrifying. He had just gotten below the shelf when the body jumped out at him, dislodged by the crumbling of the rocks and the current produced by Shawn's own kicking. Shawn fell back, startled. And then he saw the other bodies. There had to be a dozen, all tied together and weighed down with bricks. Reacting instinctively, Shawn swam out of the cave, kicking up from the depths way too fast, but he couldn't stop. He felt the painful pressure in his ears and his chest as he ascended too quickly, but he wanted to get away from the makeshift graveyard as soon as possible.

Breaking the surface, Shawn ripped off his breathing mask, gasping heavily. "Shawn?" Gus asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Shawn took a few more gasping breaths before holding up his hand and the bony skeletal remains clutched in it. "Gus? I think we need to call the chief now."

* * *

**Thoughts? I'd love to hear what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the reviews! This chapter isn't too exciting, but that will come soon. Enjoy :)

* * *

"Anything?" Lassiter asked as the third diver in less than an hour had resurfaced empty-handed. The diver shook his head in the negative. The SBPD had brought in four expert divers at Shawn's discovery, but so far none of them had been able to find the underwater graveyard. "Jesus, Spencer, how deep did you dive?!" Lassiter shouted over to Shawn, who sat with his back pressed against the cabin of the SBPD boat, a police blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

After debating for a good fifteen minutes about how to approach the situation, Gus had convinced Shawn to forgo orchestrating one of his spectacular visions and simply call the SBPD out to their current location. Shawn had agreed in part because they were running short on time and also because he knew it would be hard convincing the chief to bring out her deep-sea divers without any real evidence. Even so, Shawn had still told the chief it had been spirits that led him to investigate the location.

Once the chief had heard about the hand Shawn had found, she'd immediately called her Coast Guard sister and arranged for some of the best SBPD divers to go out on the waters to where Shawn and Gus were situated. When the boat carrying the divers and detectives had arrived, they had hitched the two boats together and Shawn and Gus had moved to the police boat in order to assist with the recovery mission.

Shawn, no longer in his wetsuit, couldn't seem to stop shivering even though it was mid-May and the Santa Barbara air was pleasantly warm. Juliet had immediately noticed and retrieved a blanket from the cabin of the boat, wrapping it around Shawn's shoulders and making sure he was okay before returning to her partner's side to help in the recon mission. Gus, meanwhile, was hanging around the forensics guys, asking them about all of their equipment.

At Lassiter's yell, Shawn pushed himself up and shuffled over to Juliet and Lassiter, the blanket still clutched around him. He checked his watch again, beginning to worry that they might not make it back before his dad got home. Two of the divers were waiting on the deck for further instructions.

"Can you give us any more details about where you found the bodies?" Juliet asked with much more tact than her partner had displayed a minute ago.

Shawn nodded, closing his eyes as he remembered his last dive. The diving gauge had been at around 95 feet when he'd found the cave, and he had gone a little deeper after that. Shawn opened his eyes and looked at Juliet. "Straight down off the side of my dad's boat, there's a cave about 95 feet below the surface. It kinda looks like Ursula's cave from the Little Mermaid," he explained, hearing Lassie's huff of annoyance.

"Go on," Juliet prodded, smiling at that.

Shawn closed his eyes again. "If you keep the opening to the cave on your right-hand side, the bodies are tied together and weighed down on a ledge just inside the cave. Be careful," Shawn said, directing his advice to the two divers that had been listening intently to Shawn's description, "one of the bodies jumped out at me." At the looks of confusion the divers and detectives shot him, Shawn continued. "You know in that scene from Jaws when Richard Dreyfuss is investigating the sunken boat and that guy's body pops out at him? It was just like that. Scared the shi..."

"Spencer, enough!" interrupted Lassiter. "Did you get that?" He asked the two divers. "Good, then get to it," he ordered at their twin nods.

Shawn turned away from Lassiter, planning to return to his seat against the cabin. His legs were beginning to cramp up and the stubborn coldness refused to go away. He felt Jules's hand on his elbow and he let her lead him towards his destination. Shawn sat down heavily, leaning his head back, eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" Juliet asked, crouching down in front of him.

Shawn opened his eyes and nodded. "Just tired."

"I can imagine," Juliet sympathized, but there was a hint of amusement in her voice. "After all, SCUBA diving must take a lot out of you." Shawn nodded in agreement. "How come you never told me you could SCUBA dive before?"

"I'm full of surprises, Jules. You should know that by now."

Juliet nodded, smiling. "I'm just disappointed I didn't get to see you in your wetsuit," she teased.

"I'll bring it to the cabin," Shawn said eagerly. "And I've got a spare for you, too. Though now that I'm thinking about it, no clothes is probably better..."

Juliet lightly slapped him on the knee. "Behave yourself, Shawn," she said sternly but her eyes were alight. "Besides, if we don't find the bodies, I won't be going anywhere with you this weekend." Juliet stood up all the way then, heading back towards Lassiter to see if they had made any progress. Shawn closed his eyes again, letting his head thud against the wall.

"They find anything?" Gus asked, sitting down so his shoulders were touching Shawn's.

"Not yet, but they will soon," Shawn answered confidently. They had to or else this weekend was going to suck. "You have fun with the forensics guys?"

Gus shrugged. "They didn't show me anything I didn't already know."

Shawn's laugh quickly turned into a moan of pain and he reached up to rub at his forehead.

"What's the matter?" Gus asked, immediately noticing the action.

"Head hurts a little. And my ears are ringing."

"I told you you were overdoing the whole diving thing. Maybe you should stay home this weekend."

"So you and Rachel can have the cabin all to yourselves? I don't think so, Buddy."

Gus laughed. "Had to try." He and Shawn sat quietly, watching the police activity on the boat. After a few minutes Gus felt Shawn's head heavy on his shoulder and heard his breathing steady out in sleep. They sat that way for about fifteen minutes, Gus trying his best not to move too much so he wouldn't wake up Shawn.

A celebratory shout from the side of the boat immediately shook Shawn out of his nap. He looked at Gus, the two of them trying to figure out what was going on. Gus helped Shawn stand, keeping a hand on his friend's back until he was steady. They headed toward the side of the boat, trying to get a good view.

Juliet caught sight of Shawn and hurried over. "They found the bodies, Shawn. It's going to take awhile for the divers to bring everything up, but this is great. I think we got him." She smiled broadly and kissed Shawn on the cheek before hurrying back to help out the divers.

"Lassie!" Shawn shouted, seeing the gangly detective walking past. Lassiter, clearly uncomfortable, made his way over to the duo.

"Adequate work, Spencer. Guster," he acknowledged, nodding and then walking away.

Shawn turned towards his best friend, grinning as they bumped fists. "You know that's right."

* * *

Action coming soon, I promise! Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think :)


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you again for the reviews, guys! This chapter is much longer than the previous and there's also more action. Hope you enjoy **

* * *

Juliet sighed as she fell back against her chair, exhausted. The excitement from finding the bodies had worn off quickly once they'd realized how monumental the task of recovering all of the evidence would be. The chief had called in more divers, but even so it still took more than three hours before they had recovered everything. Juliet was hungry and exhausted. It was almost 6 pm and she had promised Shawn she'd do her best to get to his father's house for dinner by 7. That was beginning to look less and less likely.

The evidence they'd collected was good. Good enough to hold Rodrigo Estevez and hopefully convict him. Lassiter was in the interrogation room with him now, confronting him with the evidence they had recovered. Juliet wanted to be involved but she was too busy handling the paperwork from the day's recovery mission. And from the sound of it, Carlton had it covered.

Her phone rang and she smiled when she saw Shawn's picture on the caller ID.

"Save me Jules," he whispered when she picked up, and for a second Juliet's stomach dropped.

"Shawn? What's wrong?" she asked, immediately concerned. She'd thought he looked pale earlier and a million thoughts ran through her head, none of them good.

"He's making me make flan."

Juliet huffed out a relieved breath. "What?"

"My dad! He's making me cook."

"So you're fine?"

"Did you not hear what I just said? Flan, Jules!"

Juliet laughed. "Yeah, too eggy if you ask me."

"I agree. Vehemently." Juliet heard the rattling of silverware "So should I set a place for you?" he asked hopefully, and she wanted so desperately not to disappoint him.

"I'll try my best, Shawn."

"Shawn! You need to beat the eggs!" Henry shouted in the background.

Juliet laughed. "I think you need to get back to work."

"Hold your horses!" Shawn yelled back. "Save me, Jules," he whispered again before hanging up.

Juliet shook her head, returning to the stack of papers. She tuned out everything around her and focused only on the paperwork at hand. Nearly thirty minutes had passed before she even took the time to check her watch.

"What are you still doing here, O'Hara?"

Juliet looked up, startled. Carlton stood in front of her, hands on his hips. She motioned to the paperwork on her desk, choosing to leave that as answer enough.

"I can do paperwork, you know. Weren't you supposed to go up to some cabin with Spencer for the weekend?"

Juliet shrugged. "He knows I have work to do. Plus, this case is too big to miss out on." She turned to continue working, but Lassiter put his hand over her paperwork.

"McNab!" He shouted, and the eager young officer came running.

"Yes, Detective?"

"I have some paperwork for you," Lassiter said, picking up the stack of papers and depositing it in Buzz's hands.

"Hey!" Juliet exclaimed.

"I'm pulling rank, O'Hara. If Spencer hadn't found the bodies we'd be back at square one and Estevez would be free. We can't do anything until the crime techs scour every inch of the evidence, and Estevez isn't going anywhere. Plus, the chief said you maxed out on overtime these last two weeks, so you're technically not even allowed to be here."

Juliet grinned, finally agreeing. "Are you saying you're doing this for Shawn?"

Lassiter looked disgusted. "Of course not, O'Hara." Juliet kept smiling. "I'll deny it if you tell him. Now get out of here. I'll call you the second anything changes."

Juliet pushed out of her seat. "Thank you, Carlton."

Lassiter nodded. "Don't mention it," he said, heading back towards the interrogation room.

Juliet picked up her phone and quickly dialed Shawn's number to let him know she'd be coming to dinner. She heard him say her name, but immediately the call dropped. "Dammit," she huffed, annoyed.

"Something wrong, Detective?" McNab asked, looking up from his new pile of paperwork.

"My phone keeps dropping calls," she said frustrated. "I need to go let Carlton know." Juliet quickly packed her bags and headed towards the interrogation room where Lassiter was still grilling their main suspect. When she opened the door, her partner looked up surprised.

"O'Hara! I thought I told you to leave."

Estevez looked up as Juliet entered and she felt his eyes on her, studying her. She made eye contact for a brief second and then quickly looked away towards her partner.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving," she reassured him. "I just wanted to let you know that my cell service has been spotty and it will probably only get worse up in the mountains. If anything happens with the case, can you call me on Shawn's number?"

Lassiter nodded. "Sure." He paused to think for a second. "What's the name of the mountain in case I can't get through to Spencer?" he asked.

"Big Pine Mountain in the Los Padres forest," Juliet said. "The ranger station has a landline and is only a few miles from us. I'll let them know we're up there in case you call."

Lassiter jotted down the information. "Got it. Now go have a good time. I better not see you until Monday."

O'Hara smiled and nodded. "Bye Carlton," she said before turning to leave, unaware of Estevez's eyes following her out.

* * *

"Gus! Knock it off," Shawn scolded as he slapped his best friend's hand away from another corn-on-the-cob. It was his third attempt in the last fifteen minutes to steal food from the spread on the table.

"Well I'm _hungry_, Shawn! And you said we would be eating at 7, so I think I'm entitled to some food."

"Dad, help me out here?" Shawn asked, looking at his father hopefully.

"You did tell him 7, Shawn."

Shawn threw up his hands. "Jules texted and she will be here any minute! Do you really want her to get here and for all the food to be gone?"

"Just one cob, Shawn," Gus tried again.

Shawn was about to make another argument when he heard Juliet's car on the gravel.

"Hear that? She's here. Now behave yourself."

Shawn left his father and Gus at the table and went out the kitchen door to greet his girlfriend. Juliet had parked her green Beetle next to Gus's Echo and Shawn could see a few bags in the front seat as well as a pillow.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that an overnight bag?" he asked her, greeting Juliet with a kiss on the cheek.

"A _double_ overnight bag," Juliet corrected, smiling widely.

"Does this mean what I think it means?"

Juliet nodded happily. "Carlton gave me the weekend off. We can't move on the case until Monday as it is, so I won't be missing anything."

"That's fantastic!" Shawn said, excited. He went over to the passenger door and took out Juliet's bag and pillow. "But you have to break the news to Gus. I think he was convinced he and Rachel would have the cabin to themselves for the weekend."

"Well wouldn't you have gone up with them anyway?"

Shawn shook his head. "And leave you all alone? Not a chance. Now m'lady, shall we?" Juliet grinned widely, allowing Shawn to take her hand as they walked up the path to Henry's house. "I can't vouch for my dad's fish, but the corn on the cob and flan are top-not...Gus, what the hell?" Shawn exclaimed when he saw his best friend sitting at the table, a bare cob on his plate and corn kernels scattered around it. We were out there for five minutes tops!"

"I told you I was starving, Shawn! You know what happens when I don't eat."

"It's been about three hours," Shawn huffed in disbelief. "You couldn't stop him?" he asked, turning towards his father.

Henry shrugged. "Not my job, Kid."

"You guys didn't have to wait for me!" Juliet exclaimed guiltily.

Gus shot Shawn a smug look that clearly said 'I told you so.' Shawn chose to ignore it.

"Of course we waited for you, Sweetheart," Shawn said, pulling out a chair for Juliet. "Or at least those of us who aren't half-animal waited," he added, motioning towards Gus.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we eat?" Gus said impatiently, already helping himself to another cob.

Henry stood up, taking a few Coronas out of the fridge and removing the tin foil that was covering the fish and vegetables. "Dinner is served."

* * *

"That your partner?" Rodrigo Estevez asked after Juliet had left the interrogation room. Lassiter turned back towards his suspect, the smarmy grin plastered on Estevez's face making him cringe.

"None of your business," he answered gruffly.

"She's one fine piece of ass."

Lassiter was up so quickly Estevez didn't even have time to blink. And then Lassiter had the suspect pinned up against the wall and he saw a glimmer of fear pass across Estevez's eyes. Lassiter released him roughly and Estevez stumbled into the chair he had just been sitting in. The fear that had flickered across his eyes disappeared and was immediately replaced with a smug smile. "You better watch it, Detective. Something like that can put a serious kink in your case against me."

"Can it, Estevez. With the amount of evidence we have against you, you won't be going anywhere for a long, long time. Now tell me, who were you working with?"

"Why don't you just get your 'psychic' to divine the answer to that question?" Estevez challenged. Lassiter was caught off guard. He had no idea how Estevez knew about Spencer's involvement in the case. "Didn't think I knew, did you Detective? But then of course I suspected something was up. Last I saw, your officers couldn't find a dead body even if there was a big X painted over it."

"The SPBD has some of the best officers in the country."

Estevez scoffed. "What was that psychic's name? Shawn Spencer?" Lassiter tried not to bristle at the resident psychic's name, but he knew Estevez noticed. "And that pretty partner of yours. That's his girlfriend. Am I right?"

Lassiter was up again, his hand gripping a piece of Estevez's collar. "Listen, jackass, I don't know what your game is, but you better knock it off or I'll have you -"

"Detective!"

Lassiter turned around to see the chief standing at the door to the interrogation room, a tall, well-dressed man at her side. He immediately let go of Estevez and brushed his hands on his pants. "Yes, Chief?"

Vick watched her head detective for a second before continuing. "This is Mark Sheppard. He's Mr. Estevez's attorney."

Mark Sheppard stepped forward, glaring at Lassiter. "That will be enough questioning, Detective. And you can expect that there will be some serious inquiries into the handling of my client."

Lassiter was about to protest, but Vick urged him on again. He followed her out, leaving Estevez and his attorney to talk.

"Did you get anything from him?" Vick asked once they had closed the door.

Lassiter looked through the glass, studying Estevez. "He wouldn't fold. But I'm sure the evidence we collected today will be enough to convict..." he trailed off when he saw the look on Karen's face. "What?" he asked, certain he wouldn't like her answer.

"They haven't found anything conclusively linking Estevez to the bodies. And then there's the question about how he could have gotten them out there in the first place - he doesn't have a boat and as far as we know, he isn't a SCUBA diver. Those bodies were placed in that cave, not simply dumped into the ocean."

"Well obviously he has a partner. We just need to find him," Lassiter insisted.

"And I agree. I just hope we have enough to hold him," she said grimly, turning to leave.

Lassiter took one last glance back at the interrogation room. Sheppard was clearly talking to his client, but Estevez was staring straight into the glass, his beady eyes fixed on the head detective. Lassiter shivered involuntarily before turning and following the chief out.

* * *

"Not hungry?" Henry asked, motioning his fork towards Shawn's half-eaten fish.

"I'm saving room for the flan," Shawn answered flatly, not up for his dad's scrutinizing. He was feeling slightly nauseated at the sight of the fish on his plate and had chosen to pick at the vegetables instead. Gus, on the other hand, was on his third helping.

"Delicious, Mr. Spencer," Gus said earnestly, shoveling more vegetables into his mouth. Juliet agreed.

"Well thank you, Gus, Juliet. It's good to know some people appreciate my cooking."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Oh save it, Dad. You don't care who enjoys your cooking, you just wanted to get to use your new grill. Which, if you'll remember, I picked out."

Henry laughed, standing up to clear the plates. "It's a good grill, Kid," he agreed, slapping Shawn lightly on the back of his head. Shawn yelped in surprise, gripping his head as it spun.

"Too hard!" he yelled after his dad.

"I'll get the flan," Gus said, standing up and heading for the fridge.

Shawn dropped his head into his hands, exhausted. He felt Juliet's hand on his back. "Shawn if you're not feeling well, we don't have to go up to the cabin."

Shawn turned to look at her. "Are you kidding me? You know how long I've been waiting to go back to this cabin? And now I get to show you? No way I'm passing it up." Shawn squeezed his fingers together trying to get his joints to loosen up. "I'm fine just a little tired. A shot of Five-hour Energy will wake me right up."

Juliet nodded but didn't seem fully convinced.

"Shawn, I think there's something wrong with your flan," Gus announced, balancing four plates as he walked into the dining room. "It's all runny."

Shawn poked the glob in front of him. "I don't think it set yet, Buddy. You should probably put these back in the fridge."

Gus took a huge bite anyway. "I don't care, I'm starving."

Juliet looked at him, confused. "How? You just had three servings of fish and 4 corn on the cobs!"

"Don't question it, Jules," Shawn urged.

Henry came back into the room, carrying a pot of coffee and some cream. "I thought you all could use some extra caffeine seeing as how you insist on driving up to that damn cabin tonight." Shawn nodded vigorously, holding his cup out for his dad. Henry studied him a little more closely and Shawn looked away, aware of the scrutiny. "You look pale, Shawn. Have you been eating okay?"

"Dad, would you drop it? I'm fine!"

"Why don't you all spend the night here and get an early start on the day tomorrow?" Henry suggested, still studying his son. "Weren't they saying something about storms tonight?"

Gus shook his head. "Shawn doesn't do early. If we don't go up tonight, we won't get there until at least after noon tomorrow."

"And then we'll have so much less time for activities," Shawn agreed. "It's only a two-hour drive, Dad. We'll leave soon and be up there before eleven tonight. I don't think they're calling for rain until 1 or 2 am."

"Fine," Henry agreed. "But you better be careful with my truck. If you so much as scratch it -"

"It's fifteen years old, Dad!" Shawn argued, cutting him off. "You wouldn't even notice the difference."

"Oh I'll notice, Shawn."

Shawn sighed. "We'll be careful."

Henry looked at Juliet and Gus, waiting for their nods before dropping the argument. He lifted his coffee mug in a toast. "Well then drink up. You've got a long drive ahead of you."

* * *

"How much longer?" Gus asked from the back seat, rubbing his eyes as he woke up from the nap he had unintentionally taken.

"Have a nice nap, Gus?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah, until my head was bashed against the door. Can't you drive a little more carefully?"

Shawn scoffed. "We're in the mountains, Gus. What do you expect me to do? This isn't exactly the highways of Santa Barbara."

"I'm just saying, try to avoid the huge holes in the road."

"Alright Buddy, I'll try my best."

Gus grunted his thanks. "So how far out are we?" The wind was picking up and Gus was getting a little nervous about his best friend's driving ability on the rocky mountain roads.

"We've got a little more than a half hour left," Juliet said, looking at a map. "We should be crossing a bridge in about 10 miles."

Gus shuddered. "I hate that bridge. All rickety and old. I'm amazed it's still standing."

"I'm sure it's fine, Gus," Shawn reassured him, rubbing his eyes. He had been feeling slightly dizzy since they'd started their ascent up the mountain and there was a strange pressure in his chest. He didn't want to scare Jules or Gus, but Shawn was beginning to think there was something really wrong. He planned to tell them as soon as they got to the cabin - no use worrying them now.

Shawn took a swig from the five hour energy - his second of the night. He could almost feel Juliet's look of concern, but he tried his best to ignore it. They drove in near-silence for the next twenty minutes. Juliet had lowered the volume of the radio so Shawn could concentrate, and he hadn't complained.

"There's the bridge," Juliet said, eyeing the narrow wooden bridge up ahead. Gus had been right - that bridge had no business still standing. "They should really replace that," Juliet thought aloud.

"Not enough people come up here," Shawn explained. "I guess it just isn't worth the money it would take." He was silent after that, concentrating on not freaking out as the bridge creaked beneath the weight of the truck. When they were safely across the bridge, every occupant in the car released the breath they'd been holding.

"How much farther from here?" Juliet asked.

"I think it's only about 10 or so minutes," Shawn told her, remembering the many trips they'd taken up there in years past. The bridge had always been the marker for "almost there." "The road gets pretty rough, though, so hold on."

Juliet wanted to ask how it could get any more rough than the road they'd just been on for the last hour but decided to keep the question to herself. She could tell Shawn was struggling and didn't want to distract him.

Shawn hadn't been exaggerating - the road was so bumpy it felt like they were on a roller coaster ride as they traversed it. On more than one occasion, Shawn's grip had faltered and he'd only just managed to grasp the wheel in time to keep them from careening off the road.

"Shawn, maybe you should pull over," Juliet suggested. "I can drive the rest of the way."

Shawn shook his head. "We're almost there, Jules. The cabin's just a mile or so -" Shawn gasped as he felt a pinch in his chest. Without thinking, he reached his right hand out to clutch at his chest, feeling for a second like he couldn't breathe.

"Shawn!" he heard Juliet yell, but it was too late - he had already lost control. Shawn felt the wheel jerk out of his left hand and he wasn't nearly quick enough to grab it with his right. The rocky terrain sent the truck careening, and in the second before it came to a rough stop at the bottom of a ditch, the only thought that crossed Shawn's mind was how pissed his dad was going to be. And then everything went black.

* * *

_Sorry for the cliffhanger! Thanks so much for reading – I'd love to know what you think!_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Gus fell forward at the abrupt stop, the old seatbelt doing little to hold him back. He smacked his face against the back of Shawn's seat and immediately felt the blood pouring from his nose. He reached a hand up to pinch it tightly, grabbing a towel from his bag and pressing that against his nose. When the stinging had worn off and he could see again, Gus immediately looked to the front of the truck, concerned that he hadn't heard much of anything from the other two occupants.

"Juliet?" he asked, seeing her moving slowly. "Are you okay?" Juliet placed a hand against her head, nodding.

"Yeah, I just bumped by head," she answered. "Oh God, Shawn!" Juliet yelled, seeing her boyfriend unmoving in the seat next to her. Shawn had his head canted to the left side, resting against the window and he didn't move when Juliet called to him. She could see his left arm was pinned between his body and the door, but couldn't tell if it was broken. Juliet unbuckled her seatbelt, placing two fingers against his carotid, breathing out a sigh when she felt the responding pulse of his heartbeat. "He's breathing," she told Gus, "but unconscious."

Shawn started to move his head the second she said that, letting out a low groan. Juliet placed her hand on his shoulder. "Shh Shawn, don't move around too much." Shawn lifted his right arm sluggishly but dropped it before he had lifted it all the way to his head. "What happened?" he mumbled, turning slightly towards Juliet.

"You killed the car," Gus answered simply, ignoring the look Juliet shot him which clearly told him to put on the kid gloves for this.

Shawn groaned again. "My dad's going to kill me."

"Hey, hey," Juliet said, placing a gentle hand on his face. "As long as you're okay, I don't think he'll be too mad. Plus, the truck might not be so bad. We can see if the ranger can help pull us out tomorrow."

Shawn dropped his head against the seatback with a thud. "Some vacation."

The wind chose that second to pick up, howling loudly and blowing the trees wildly. "We need to get to the cabin before the storm hits," Juliet said decisively. "Can you move?" she asked Shawn.

Shawn grunted in assent, shifting slightly. He cried out when he tried to move his left arm which was still pressed against the door by the weight of his body. "Shawn?" Gus asked, concerned.

"I'm okay buddy. It's just my w-wrist," he choked out, wrenching it free of the door and yelping in pain again.

"Let me see," Juliet said, taking his hand gently. "I think your wrist is broken," she said. His wrist was already starting to swell and there was a lump which she didn't think was supposed to be there. "Or at least badly sprained. Is there a first-aid kit up at the cabin?"

Shawn nodded but Gus answered for him. "Sal made sure to have it well-stocked whenever Shawn and I were visiting. We made good use of it," he added with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Yeah we did," Shawn agreed, chuckling a little and reaching back with his right hand so Gus could fist-bump it.

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Okay, good. We need to get up there now. Gus, can you get whatever bags you think we'll need and climb out the right side? I think the ground is flatter over there. I'm going to help Shawn to the passenger door but I'm gonna need your help getting him out of the truck. And check your cell phone. If you have service, try calling the ranger station and see if they can give us a ride."

Gus agreed, removing the towel from his face, happy to see his nose had stopped bleeding. He reached into his pocket and checked his cell phone, not surprised when the screen said no service. He pulled the bags out of the truck bed and threw them out the door, choosing to leave behind the bags that contained laser tag and water guns. He was pretty sure they weren't going to be able to use those this weekend, and they had enough to carry as it was. Dropping onto the rough ground below, Gus circled the car to check out the damage.

Juliet had been right - Henry's truck really didn't look that bad, but it was definitely not getting out of the ditch without some help. And it was inevitable that there'd be scratches. He groaned silently. Henry was definitely going to put them to work again. Gus returned to the right side of the car, approaching the passenger side to see if he could help Juliet.

Juliet had slung Shawn's right arm over her shoulder and was helping him scoot over to the passenger seat. He clutched his left arm to his chest protectively, unwilling to move it. Shawn tried his best to suppress the whimpers of pain the movement caused, but he was doing a poor job of it.

"Almost there," Juliet whispered reassuringly. She had kicked open the door and now had one foot on the step. "Gus?" she asked, unsure where their friend was.

"I'm right here, Juliet," Gus answered from the space by the open door. "The ground is relatively flat on this side. A few more inches and you'll be out."

Juliet nodded. "Okay, Shawn, I'm going to climb out and then Gus and I will help you get down. Got it?"

"Got it," Shawn grunted.

Juliet maneuvered so that Shawn now had his right arm around the passenger seat headrest, then she turned and took a hold of Gus's hand as she jumped out of the truck, landing softly on the ground below.

"How you doing, Shawn?" Gus asked, sticking his head through the door.

"Peachy," Shawn answered. "Can I get out of here now?"

"Okay, scoot as far over to the door as you can," Juliet instructed. Shawn followed her directions, having considerable difficulty as he tried not to move his left arm. He shut his eyes tight as he closed the last bit of distance between his seat and the door. "You okay?" Juliet repeated, seeing the sweat on his brow and the tight pinch of his face.

"I'm good. Let's do this."

Gus stepped over to take Shawn's arm and Juliet kept her hand on his right side, trying her best to avoid touching the damaged wrist. "On three," Gus said, "One, two, three," and Shawn jumped down, landing roughly. He would have fallen onto his butt if Gus hadn't had such a strong grip on him. Even so, the movement made him dizzy and he squeezed his eyes closed again. He could feel Juliet examining his right side, the side that had been obscured when he was in the car. She had her fingers up near his hairline and he winced when she pressed gently.

"You've got a big goose egg here," Juliet said, concerned. "Do you feel dizzy?" She asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

"A little," Shawn admitted, choosing to omit the fact that he was dizzy _before_ the crash.

Juliet frowned. "We should probably get to the cabin as soon as possible. Gus, did you get the bags?" Gus held them up and Juliet took one from him. Shawn took the other, even though Gus insisted he would carry it. "Any cell service?" she asked hopefully. Gus shook his head. "Dammit," she cursed quietly. "About a mile, you said?"

Shawn nodded. "Maybe a little less."

"Do you know where to go?" Juliet asked Gus, and at Gus's nod, she hoisted one of the bags over her shoulder. Staying close to Shawn's right side, she urged Gus forward. "Alright then let's get going. Lead the way, Gus."

* * *

Lassiter looked up from his paperwork when he heard the chief's voice. He'd been relegated to his desk after the crime techs had complained that they couldn't work with him breathing down their necks. He immediately knew something was wrong when he saw the look on her face.

"They're releasing him, aren't they?"

Vick nodded. "He'll still be under police surveillance, but we have to let him go."

Lassiter cursed quietly. "What the hell is their reason? We found the damn bodies."

"Improper processing of evidence."

"We did everything by the book!" Lassiter insisted.

"I know, they're just grasping at straws, but the truth is we can't connect him to the evidence yet. Don't worry we're putting two officers on-watch outside his home. Estevez won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Vick paused, studying Lassiter. "Go home, Detective. Get some sleep. I know you'll be back early tomorrow anyway. There's nothing you can do here now."

"That's okay, I have some work I need to finish."

"That wasn't a suggestion, Detective," the chief added simply before heading into her office.

Lassiter knew better than to defy Karen Vick, so he packed up the papers he'd been working on and gathered his things. He'd go home, but he had no intention of sleeping. Estevez was a snake and he wasn't going to get away with this. If only Lassiter could figure out whom he'd been working with...

* * *

In the 30 minutes that they had been walking, the wind had picked up considerably. The humidity in the air was palpable – it was going to start raining soon and hard. Shawn saw Gus quicken his pace in front of them, obviously thinking the same thing.

"Just a little farther," Juliet reassured him, even though Shawn knew she had no clue how much longer until they reached the cabin.

Shawn huffed out a laugh. "I appreciate the optimism."

"Cabin's up ahead!" Gus yelled, turning to look at them.

Juliet turned to Shawn. "Told you," she said happily. Shawn grinned in response, trying to walk a little faster, the prospect of finally getting to rest providing him with renewed energy.

"Oh, the key, Buddy!" Shawn shouted to Gus, reaching into his pocket. The movement caused him to lose his balance and Juliet couldn't compensate quickly enough. Shawn stuck out his left hand to catch himself when he realized he was going down, for a second completely forgetting about the whole broken wrist thing. The second his wrist connected with the ground, the pain was unreal. He curled in on himself, gasping harshly, feeling nauseous from the pain. Shawn could hear Juliet and Gus calling to him, but he was too focused on not screaming.

After a few _horrible_ moments, the pain started to back down to a dull ache. Shawn opened his eyes to see Juliet's and Gus's concerned faces. "You okay?" Juliet asked worriedly. "You blacked out on us there for a second."

Shawn looked confused, pretty sure passing out would have been preferable to what he just went through. He nodded tightly. "Sorry," he whispered, unsure what he was apologizing for. "Let's just get-get into the cabin," Shawn choked out, struggling to stand. Gus was at his side, allowing Shawn to put all his weight on him. "You get the keys?"

Gus chuffed out a laugh. "Yeah I got them, Shawn. Next time make sure you have your balance before doing something like that."

Shawn let out a harsh laugh. "You...got it." Juliet hovered nearby in case Shawn decided to take another spill, but they made it to the cabin steps without incident.

"I hope there's heat," Shawn mumbled, shivering.

Juliet frowned, reaching up to feel Shawn's forehead again. "It's pretty warm out, Shawn. Are you sure you're not sick?"

Shawn shook his head, "Not sick," he insisted, but then proceeded to cough harshly, undermining that assertion.

The clap of thunder overhead filled them with renewed urgency to get inside the cabin, and Juliet hurried up the steps with the keys. Gus and Shawn followed behind at a slower pace, Shawn not wanting a repeat of what happened a few minutes ago. Juliet propped the door open and turned on the lights before returning to Gus and Shawn, taking the extra bags from them and walking alongside as they climbed the steps.

"Home sweet home," Shawn said enthusiastically once they were inside.

"Man this place hasn't changed in fifteen years!" Gus exclaimed, looking at the familiar decor that surrounded the cabin. With Shawn's arm still around his shoulder, Gus led his best friend into the kitchen area and lowered him into one of the chairs. Juliet followed closely behind, flicking on the light switch.

In the bright light from the kitchen, Shawn looked even worse, if that was possible. He was a few shades paler than earlier and his eyes had deep smudges underneath them. The bump on his head didn't look as bad as Juliet had originally thought, and for that she was thankful.

"Gus, why don't you go get the first-aid kit?" Juliet asked. Gus nodded and headed for the bathroom.

Shawn had his eyes closed and he was breathing harshly, bending over as if in pain.

"Shawn," Juliet said, bending down to look him in the eyes. "Did you hurt your ribs in the crash?" she asked, trying to figure out why he was bent over and struggling to breathe.

"Don't th-think so," he wheezed, lifting the hem of his shirt so Juliet could see. There were no marks from the seatbelt and she couldn't find any cracked or broken ribs when she pressed on his stomach. "Can't," he wheezed, coughing dryly, "catch my...breath," he huffed out, on the verge of hyperventilating. Shawn pressed a hand to his sternum, trying to calm down. "Stomach hurts." Gus hurried back with the first aid kit, pulling out another chair for himself.

"What's going on?" he asked Juliet, noticing his friend's obvious distress. Shawn was leaning forward even more now, groaning.

Juliet had her hand on Shawn's shoulder but she looked at Gus worriedly. "I don't know, he said his stomach hurts and he's having trouble breathing."

Gus seemed to think for a second before cursing under his breath. "_Shit_," he murmured, and that caught Juliet's attention because she had only very rarely heard him curse before. Something was wrong.

"What is it, Gus?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

"Shawn, in your _extensive_ SCUBA diving training, did they warn you about the Bends?"

Shawn looked up at his best friend, hand still pressed against his sternum. "Why would...they warn me...about a luxury c..car?"

"You think he has the Bends?" Juliet asked, vaguely remembering learning about that in the first-aid class the academy required. "What does that mean? Can we treat it?"

"It means Shawn's probably only going to get worse," Gus started. "And we need to get him off this mountain."

* * *

_Way to go to those of you who guessed what was wrong! I don't really know much about Decompression Sickness or the Bends, so these symptoms are just pulled off of the Internet. And for those who said Shawn or Gus should have figured it out sooner, Shawn's SCUBA certification wasn't actually legit and Gus didn't realize because Shawn hadn't really been showing symptoms. Thank you all for reading, please review! (The reviews make me update faster)._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello again! Thank you all for your reviews and for reading. This chapter is shorter than the others, but I'm almost finished with the next chapter and will post it in a day or two. I hope you're still enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Any medical-related things I include in here should not be examined too closely, as I've made the majority up (though I did use Google quite a bit). **

* * *

"The Bends?" Shawn repeated, chuckling a little. "That...can't be a real...thing."

"It's not funny, Shawn! It can be really serious," Gus told him.

"Is that from ascending too quickly?" Juliet asked, as she pulled up a chair next to Shawn. She put a hand on his back, rubbing small circles and trying to ease the tension she could feel as his breath sawed in and out.

Gus nodded. "Exacerbated by the lower air pressure up here. That's why you shouldn't get in an airplane after diving. I can't believe I didn't think about that."

"It's not your fault, Gus. Did you properly ascend from all your dives?" Juliet asked.

"Uhhh," Shawn trailed off, looking guilty. "All except the...last one," he heard Gus groan and looked at his best friend. "The dead bodies...freaked me..out," he defended meekly.

Gus stood up, "And you didn't think that was worth mentioning before we came all the way up here to the middle of nowhere?" he asked, voice raised.

"I felt okay," Shawn said. "It got...worse," he gasped, "worse when we drove...up the mountain."

"Okay, it's okay," Juliet soothed, shooting Gus a glance. Getting Shawn worked up wasn't going to help the situation. Gus seemed to get the hint.

"Sorry man, I'm just worried."

Shawn nodded, trying to get a handle on his breathing. The pressure wasn't as bad as before, but the pain in his wrist and stomach were making it hard for him to take deep breaths. "Sorry," he said quietly, "shoulda been more careful."

Juliet didn't say anything but she squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "What can we do?" she asked, turning to Gus.

"We need to get off this mountain. The decreased air pressure is only worsening Shawn's condition. And then depending on how severe the decompression sickness is, they may need to put him in a recompression chamber when we get to a hospital."

"Sounds crappy," Shawn mumbled.

Juliet frowned, knowing they couldn't get off the mountain until they were able to pull Henry's car out of the ditch. "Did you check your cell phone?" she asked Gus. "Maybe we can see if anyone at the ranger station can give us a ride."

Gus pulled out his phone again, shaking his head.

"I could hike over there, then. What is it? Three miles?" Just as Juliet said that, the cabin was illuminated by a brilliant flash of lightning outside, immediately followed by a clap of thunder. A second later, torrential rain began pounding down hard on the cabin roof.

"I don't think we're going anywhere tonight," Gus said, sitting back down in the chair and dropping his head into his hands. "Shit."

* * *

Carlton Lassiter was sitting at his desk in his house, reading the case file for the hundredth time. He had a cup of coffee next to him, the third in the last two hours. "What am I missing?" he mumbled, certain the answers were written in the pages somewhere. He needed to find out who Estevez's partner was. That was the key. He was certain of it.

Lassiter could feel his eyes drooping shut, the effects of being up for 36 hours straight starting to hit him hard. He rested his head in his hands, thinking he would just close his eyes for a second, but before he knew it, he was fast asleep. He was awoken abruptly an hour later, the Cops theme song blaring loudly from his phone. Lassiter reached out and grabbed the phone, lifting his head up and wiping the bit of drool that had collected on his chin.

"I'm up!" he shouted into the phone.

"Detective Lassiter," Karen Vick's voice had him sitting up straight in his chair, all traces of weariness gone.

"What is it?" he asked, knowing she wouldn't have called him at this hour unless something had happened.

"You need to come down to the station," she said grimly. "Now."

Lassiter grabbed his papers and jacket, out the door in under a minute. "What happened?" he repeated.

Vick sighed. "Just get down to the station as soon as possible. I'll brief you when you get here." With that, she hung up, leaving Lassiter staring at his phone. He turned the key in the ignition and sped to the station, lights and siren blaring.

The station was filled with activity, which wouldn't have been out of the ordinary if it wasn't 4 o'clock in the morning. Chief Vick was standing in the briefing room, a number of officers surrounding her. Lassiter headed straight to her, already voicing his question before he'd reached her.

"It's Estevez, isn't it?" he all but shouted.

"Calm down, Detective, I was just going to brief everyone," she turned to the room, asking for quiet. "As you all know, Rodrigo Estevez, our main suspect in the Santa Barbara Butcher case, was released earlier today. Two of our officers, Jason Marsh and Daniel Robertson, were assigned to his surveillance. Approximately thirty minutes ago I received a call from Marsh that Robertson had been knocked unconscious and that they had lost track of Estevez. Officer Robertson is in the hospital right now being treated for a mild concussion, but he is expected to make a full recovery. There is an APB out for Estevez, and I need as many officers as I can get on this case. Expect that Estevez is armed and dangerous. Let's go, people. We need this killer found and locked up as soon as possible."

With that, the room burst into action, and Lassiter pulled the chief aside. "How could Estevez get the jump on two officers?" he asked loudly.

Karen motioned for him to lower his voice, leading him to her office and closing the door. "Marsh is on his way now. He was very upset when I spoke to him, but from what I got, Marsh briefly left the car to -" she paused, lowering her voice a little, "relieve himself. Estevez must have been keeping tabs on them and he used that opening to take out Robertson."

"How the _hell_ do you screw up so royally?" Lassiter fumed.

"That's enough, Detective. It wasn't a stakeout - Marsh and Robertson were assigned to keep an eye on Estevez. Marsh will be written up for his failure to follow protocol, but we need to focus on locating Estevez and ensuring that he doesn't hurt anyone else."

Lassiter nodded, still finding it hard to stow his annoyance. "Do we have any idea where he might have gone?"

The chief shook her head slightly. "We know what car he has and we've put up roadblocks. I don't think he'll be able to get far, especially in the middle of the night when there are so few cars on the road and with half of the Santa Barbara PD out looking for him." Vick's phone buzzed and she picked it up. "Great, send him in," she said, hanging up again. "Marsh is here. Behave yourself," she warned Lassiter, knowing her head detective had the tendency to let his emotions get the best of him at times.

Officer Marsh was young and relatively new to the force. He knocked on the chief's office tentatively, looking like a lamb being led to the slaughter. He knew he had screwed up. Seeing how nervous Marsh appeared standing in the chief's office, about to get chastised for an _idiot_ mistake, Lassiter couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. But only a little, and he would never admit that.

"Officer, please would you repeat for me and Detective Lassiter the events that led up to the suspect's escape?" the chief asked, her voice even.

Marsh repeated what Chief Vick had already told Lassiter and it was obvious he was still shaken by the events. According to Marsh, he had returned from the woods to find Officer Robertson with a bleeding head wound, unconscious. He'd been so preoccupied with calling 911 and checking on his colleague that Marsh had completely forgotten about Estevez. By the time the paramedics had arrived and Marsh was able to think clearly, Estevez had already been gone for some time.

"When you and Robertson were watching Estevez, did you hear anything? Did you see anything that might indicate where he would have gone?" the chief asked once Marsh had finished talking.

Marsh was quiet for a minute, obviously wracking his brain to find something - anything - that could help. "When we were at the station earlier," he started, "before Estevez had been released, he kept saying something about 'the psychic.' He was very angry, like he wanted revenge or something."

Lassiter stepped forward after hearing that, "did Estevez say anything else about Spencer?"

Marsh shook his head. "No, but I got the feeling he was very set on finding him. Like Mr. Spencer was a threat to him or something."

"He knew Spencer had led us to the bodies," Lassiter said. "I have no idea how the hell he found out, but he knew. If there are more bodies that we haven't found yet, Estevez could see Spencer as a threat."

Vick was already picking up her phone. "I need two officers to check out the psych office immediately. The suspect may have gone there. Send another two officers out to Detective O'Hara's house," she ordered. She turned to Lassiter after hanging up. "O'Hara and Spencer were going away for the weekend, weren't they?"

Lassiter nodded. "Big Pine Mountain. They should be there by now," he guessed, seeing as how it was almost 4:30 AM.

"Okay, good, then we can assume they aren't in any immediate danger from Estevez."

"Oh crap," Lassiter said, remembering his conversation with Juliet earlier and Estevez's comments afterwards. He had definitely overheard. "Dammit!" he shouted.

"What is it, Detective?"

"We need to put up roadblocks on the highways leading up to the mountains. And we need to call O'Hara immediately. I think Estevez may be heading up to them."

* * *

_A/N_: Thank you again for reading! Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate every one of them. This chapter is longer and there's a lot of dialogue, so I hope I handled it okay. Enjoy!**

* * *

Shawn's breathing seemed to improve after Juliet had wrapped his wrist, and that was at least a little reassuring, suggesting the difficulty he'd had breathing before was more a result of the pain than the decompression sickness.

They had moved him to the couch so he could lie down and get more comfortable. The pain was no longer relegated to his stomach but had now spread to his knees and shoulders, making the movement to the couch that much more difficult. Gus had explained that joint pain was quite common for people suffering from decompression sickness, but it didn't make Juliet feel any better about the situation. None of their cell phones had service and the storm outside had increased in intensity over the last hour. They were effectively trapped.

Juliet had pulled up one of the armchairs and was sitting close enough to Shawn so that she could hear him breathing. He seemed to be sleeping pretty soundly, though every now and then his breath would catch and his face would pull into a wince. Gus was dozing on another chair, his feet stretched out on an ottoman. Juliet closed her eyes, the sounds of Shawn's breathing and the pounding rain outside lulling her to sleep.

Minutes or hours later - she couldn't be sure - she was awakened by the sound of a phone ringing from Gus's direction. Not immediately registering the significance of that sound and still drowsy from sleep, she kept her eyes closed. "Gus, your phone is ringing," she mumbled quietly, still half-asleep.

"Wha?" Gus answered, not moving to pick up the phone.

"Your phone -" Juliet repeated, then jolted awake. "Gus! Your phone!"

Juliet's reaction got Gus's attention and he shot up, grabbing his cell phone. "He-hello?" he asked, praying he didn't lose service.

"Gus, where is Shawn?" It was Henry Spencer, and he was mad. For a second Gus thought he knew about the truck, but that was impossible.

"Mr. Spencer? What time is it?" Gus asked, still drowsy. He saw Shawn stirring on the couch, knowing the commotion had probably woken him up.

"It's 5:30 in the morning. Gus, what did I tell you two about taking my boat out?" Henry asked, voice raised.

"Tell him we need help," Juliet whispered harshly, moving to stand near Gus.

Gus put his hand up, indicating for her to hold on a second. He put the phone on speaker, hearing Henry still yelling. "Gus!"

"Sorry, Mr. Spencer," Gus apologized. He was going to deny that they had taken the boat, but Henry could always tell when he was lying. "How did you know?" he asked instead. Shawn had been struggling to push himself up into a sitting position and Juliet had gone to his side to help him.

"Gus!" Shawn whispered loudly, using his right-hand to gesture for Gus to cut off the conversation.

Henry let out a laugh that was terrifying to Shawn. "Your best friend and my idiot son left his wetsuit in the bathtub, that's how I know, Gus."

Gus glared at Shawn, who responded with a half-hearted "whoops" and a chuckle that ended in a gasp of pain. Gus would've killed him if he didn't already look like death warmed over.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spencer," Gus apologized. "Shawn said you would never find out."

"I don't think you're making it better!" Shawn whispered.

"I always find out, Gus." Henry said matter-of-factly. And Gus couldn't really argue with that.

"It was for a case. We found the bodies that Rodrigo Estevez dropped into the Pacific, if that helps at all. They got enough to hold him now."

Henry paused for a second, seemingly processing the information. "They didn't get enough to hold him, Gus. They released him last night."

"What?" Juliet asked loudly. "Why?"

"Is that Juliet?" Henry asked, hearing the blonde detective's voice.

"Hi Mr. Spencer," Juliet said, going to stand by Gus. "You said they released Estevez? Do you know why?"

"I only briefly heard it on the news this morning. Something about improper processing of evidence."

Juliet cursed quietly. "Why didn't Lassiter call me?" she murmured.

"I've been trying to call all three of your cell phones since last night," Henry spoke up, providing an answer to her question. "The service is spotty up there. Sal and I always have problems. Are you three in the den?"

"Yes," Gus responded.

"I think that's probably your best bet if you need to make a phone call. The ranger station has a landline, but that's a bit of a hike."

Shawn shifted on the couch, groaning involuntarily. And that reminded Gus how urgent their situation was. "Actually, Mr. Spencer, we have a bit of a problem up here." Gus watched as Juliet returned to the couch, sitting down next to Shawn, their shoulders touching.

"It's Shawn, isn't it?" Henry's voice was still slightly annoyed, but Gus could hear a tinge of worry as well.

Gus nodded. "We think he has decompression sickness. From the diving."

It was Henry who cursed this time, his voice echoing loudly in the room. "What are his symptoms?"

"So far, pretty bad joint pain. And dizziness. He had trouble breathing earlier, but that's improved."

"Any headaches or nausea?" Henry asked. Shawn held up one hand and gave the so-so sign, choosing to let Gus answer for him.

"A little. How do you know so much?" Gus asked, curious since he had no idea Mr. Spencer knew anything about SCUBA diving.

"I went diving a few times with Jack. He got the Bends once. He was pretty miserable for a day or two, but eventually it went away on its own. Is Shawn there with you? Is he awake?"

Shawn shook his head, but Gus ignored him. "He is, but he's on the other side of the room and I don't want to move and risk losing service." Henry seemed satisfied with that answer and Shawn mouthed a silent thank you.

"How bad is he?" Henry asked quietly, almost as if he didn't want to hear the truth.

Gus's answer was ambiguous. "He ascended too quickly from his last dive, which was about 100 feet. And being up here at a high elevation certainly isn't helping."

"Are you planning to come home today?" Henry asked, logically. Gus hesitated, and Henry seemed to catch it. "What is it, Gus?"

"Well...we had a little accident on the way here," Gus said quickly, praying Henry wouldn't explode.

"You crashed my truck?"

"Technically, Shawn did."

"Gus!" Henry and Shawn both shouted.

"It isn't that bad, Mr. Spencer. But the truck is in a ditch. We had to hike the last mile to the cabin."

Henry was silent for a few moments. Finally, he sighed loudly. "Are you all okay?"

"More or less. Shawn may have broken his wrist though and he hit his head pretty hard."

"Dammit, Kid," Henry mumbled, mostly to himself. "How is the weather? You were supposed to get some pretty bad storms last night and today."

Gus looked outside, having forgotten the torrential rain from the previous night. "We got hit pretty hard last night, but it looks to have stopped. For now, at least. I think Juliet or I may try to hike to the ranger station to see if they can pull your truck out. Though if I have service, I guess we can try calling again." Just as Gus said those words, the line started to go staticky. Henry was saying something but Gus only caught snatches of the conversation. He heard "SBPD" and "careful," but then the line went completely dead.

"Dammit!" Gus shouted as the phone betrayed him. He stood up, moving around the room, staring at the phone, willing it to regain service.

"Nothing?" Juliet asked dejectedly.

Gus shook his head. "Well this is just great."

"Leave the phone on your chair in case Henry calls back." Gus did as she said. His stomach grumbled, reminding him he hadn't eaten in hours.

"I'm going to go make some breakfast for us," he told Juliet. As he turned to walk into the kitchen, the sound of heavy rain outside started up again. "Just perfect," he mumbled, shaking his head. "This trip couldn't get any worse."

* * *

"Detective, you need to stop beating yourself up over this." Marsh had been dismissed and Lassiter was sitting in the chief's office, still amazed he could have been so stupid.

"It was a _rookie _mistake," he responded. "I should have been more careful around a suspected _murderer._"

Chief Vick didn't respond immediately, knowing Lassiter wasn't even listening to her reassurances. "We have officers posted around the roads leading up to the San Rafaels. He won't even get close to the cabin."

Lassiter pulled out his phone, dialing Spencer's and Juliet's phones again. "Dammit!" he shouted, gripping his phone hard. "I need to do something," he said, standing up.

"I need you here, Detective. There are plenty of officers on it. You need to let this go for now. It was an honest mistake."

"My 'honest' mistake may have put my partner and two other SBPD employees in serious danger and you want me to just let it go?"

"For now, Detective," Vick said tightly, trying hard not to lose her patience with her head detective. "In the meantime, I will have frequent updates coming in. Why don't you try and get in touch with the ranger station up on Big Pine?"

Lassiter grumbled something unintelligible but stood up.

"What was that?" Vick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I said, yes, Chief," Lassiter said, sincerely.

Vick nodded. "Good, that's what I thought. Report back to me after you speak with O'Hara. Until then, I don't want to hear another word about you blaming yourself. That won't help us find Estevez and it certainly won't help our team on the mountain. You're dismissed."

Lassiter walked out of the office, head down. He dropped into his desk chair, pulling out the piece of paper that held the information Juliet had given him earlier. He quickly dialed the number for the ranger station, cursing at the busy signal that responded. Lassiter suspected his efforts to contact O'Hara would be futile as well, but he dialed her number again anyway. "C'mon Partner," he whispered, willing Juliet to answer. When that failed to work, he dialed Shawn's and then Gus's cell phones, receiving the same result.

Lassiter spent the next hour calling around to other ranger stations in the San Rafael Mountains. Half of the calls were answered with busy signals and the calls that did go through were at stations located considerably far away from Big Pine. When Lassiter had voiced his frustration about the calls not going through, one timid ranger had offered up an explanation.

"There have been some very bad storms up on Big Pine these past two days, sir. I think some of the phone lines have been knocked out."

"What kind of amateur rangers are you? Don't you all have another way of communicating?" he asked, annoyed.

"Well ye-yes sir, we do," the ranger stammered. "But the station that you indicated isn't answering radio calls either."

Lassiter tightened his grip on the phone. "What could be a possible explanation for that?" he asked evenly.

He could practically hear the ranger shaking. "No idea, sir."

Lassiter thanked the ranger for being of no help at all, then hung up. He had a bad feeling and it wasn't going to go away until he actually talked to his partner. He was in the process of dialing her number again when he saw Henry Spencer heading to the chief's office.

"Henry!" Lassiter yelled, stopping the older man in his path.

"Lassiter, I need a rescue crew to go up to Big Pine."

"What? What happened? You've talked to Spence-Shawn?"

Henry nodded. "I talked to Gus about a half hour ago. They got my truck stuck in a ditch and Shawn's sick. I lost the call and haven't been able to get through since." Henry looked around, seeming to just notice the amount of activity in the station. "Is this all for Estevez? Why don't you just have a few officers keeping tabs on him?"

Lassiter looked towards the chief's office, but Vick was on her phone in what looked like a pretty heated conversation. He _so_ didn't want to have to be the one to tell Henry about the screwup. "We did have officers watching Estevez...but he managed to evade them. We're not sure where he is right now."

Henry looked surprised but not especially angry, and Lassiter realized it was because he didn't know of the danger Estevez's escape posed to Shawn. "Well do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"It's possible..." Lassiter trailed off. "We think he may go after Shawn for his part in finding the bodies."

Henry snorted, "I guess it's a good thing they're stuck on the mountain." When Lassiter didn't respond, Henry narrowed his eyes. "What is it, Detective?"

"Estevez knew Shawn was going up to Big Pine. We posted officers near the exits for the mountains, but no one has spotted him yet. I've been trying to call O'Hara for the last two hours, but I can't get through."

"How does Estevez know where Shawn is?" Henry's tone was accusatory, and Lassiter couldn't blame him.

"It was my fault, Henry. I screwed up. And you can ream me for it later, but right now we need to get in touch with my partner up on that mountain and warn her that they may have company very soon."

A flash of anger crossed Henry's face, but he nodded at Lassiter's suggestion, knowing it wasn't going to help his son if he lost his cool right now. "The service in Sal's cabin is spotty, but there are some places where calls will go through. If I know Gus and Juliet, they'll figure something out." Lassiter nodded, but he didn't seem completely satisfied with that. He was about to suggest something else when his cell phone started buzzing on the desk.

Lassiter scrambled for the phone, answering it after one ring. "O'Hara!" he shouted into the phone.

Juliet immediately pulled the phone away from her ear at Lassiter's shout. "Carlton?" she said, "Oh thank God, it worked. Gus!" he heard her yelling. "I got through!" Lassiter could hear footsteps and a shuffling noise. "You're on speaker," Juliet told him.

Henry had his ear practically up to Lassiter's, and Lassiter stepped away, pressing the button to switch to speaker. "Are you three okay?" Henry asked.

"Dad?" Shawn's voice sounded weak, but Henry was just happy to hear him.

"Hey kid," Henry answered.

"O'Hara," Lassiter cut Henry off. "I need you to listen to me. Estevez escaped and we have reason to believe he may be heading up the mountains to the cabin."

"But how would he know where we are?" Lassiter heard Juliet pause, and he knew she was remembering the same thing he had. "The interrogation room," she said in realization. "Oh I'm such an _idiot_."

Henry looked at Lassiter questioningly, but he waved him off. "Shake it off, O'Hara. I need you to concentrate. You have your gun?"

"Of course," Juliet said a little more quietly, and Lassiter knew she was blaming herself.

"Hey Lassie?" Shawn asked, his characteristic smarm still present even in his weakened state.

"What is it, Spencer?"

"How'd Estevez manage to escape?"

"Robertson and Marsh were assigned to watch him. He cold-cocked Robertson while Marsh was taking a leak in the woods," Lassiter explained quickly. He heard Shawn chuckle a little.

"Wait, Robertson?" Shawn paused and Lassiter heard a slight wheeze coming from the phone.

"Yes, Officer Daniel Robertson. He's going to be fine - mild concussion I think."

The line was silent for a minute, and Lassiter checked to make sure he hadn't lost the call. "When was the last update you got on him?"

Lassiter looked confused. "He's fine, Spencer. It was just enough to knock him out."

"No, Lassie, listen!" Shawn insisted. He gasped in pain and Lassiter heard more movement.

"Shhh, you're okay," he heard Juliet whispering in the background.

"Shawn! What's going on?" Henry asked.

"It's his head, Mr. Spencer," Gus answered. "It's been bothering him for the last hour."

"Dammit," Henry murmured. "We need to get them off the mountain." Lassiter looked at him questioningly, and Henry remembered he hadn't told the detective about Shawn's decompression sickness. But there was time for that later.

"Jules," Shawn was whispering frantically in the background.

"Spencer, what is it?" Lassiter asked loudly.

"Robertson was one of the divers - ah - right?" Shawn asked, his voice indicating the level of pain he was in.

"Yes," Lassiter answered, beginning to see where Spencer was going with this. "Oh no," he whispered, already turning to head to the chief's office. Henry was close behind him, shouting his name. He burst into the office, receiving the expected glare from Karen Vick.

"Detective, what in the name of..." She started, but he cut her off.

"Call the hospital," he insisted. "Check on Robertson. Trust me," he insisted when she hesitated. Karen narrowed her eyes, but picked up the phone to dial.

"Carlton, what's going on?" Juliet was asking through the cell phone. Her voice was beginning to get garbled and Lassiter was worried he'd lose the call. He heard Karen's clipped side of the conversation and knew the news was bad.

"Robertson's gone," Vick answered, placing the phone back in the cradle. "He took his things and left without telling anyone. Detective, what is going on here? Why in the world would he sneak out of the hospital?"

Lassiter hung his head, about to answer her when Shawn's voice, as clear as if he was standing in the office with them, finished his thought for him. "Because he's Estevez's partner."

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! I will try to get this next chapter up soon. _


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating! I had finals and then I hurt my leg and now my computer is broken. So it's been difficult these last two weeks. I hope you're still with me on this! I promise to be better with the next update. Hope this chapter is okay. I keep having major issues inserting a line break to separate the action in the station from that in the cabin, but that's only at one point in this chapter so I think it should be okay. Thank you so much for the reviews! They are all greatly appreciated.**

* * *

"Do you mean to tell me that an officer who has been with us for five years is partnered with one of the most prolific serial killers in Santa Barbara?" Vick asked, not believing what she had heard.

"Think about it, Chief. Everything fits," Lassiter explained. "How the killers always managed to stay one step ahead of us. All the inside information that Estevez had. He knew that Spencer was the one who led us to the bodies."

"Don't forget about the SCUBA diving!" Shawn shouted through the line.

Lassiter nodded. "The SCUBA diving."

Vick still looked skeptical. "Officer Robertson was knocked unconscious by Estevez. He needed stitches to close the cut on his head."

"So he got a bump on his head, big deal. Hell, I've had worse more times than I can count," Lassiter countered. "It threw suspicion off of Robertson and gave them both time to escape. Seems like a good tradeoff to me."

"This is all circumstantial and complete speculation. You really think we've had a serial killer working right under our noses?"

"It wouldn't be the first time we had dirty cops working here," Henry spoke up, unconsciously pressing his hand to the spot on his chest where Jerry Carp had shot him just a few months earlier.

Karen nodded, conceding Henry's point.

"How long ago did he leave the hospital?" Henry asked.

Vick hesitated slightly at that question. "He was taken to a room immediately after the incident at 4:30 AM. No one checked on him until just now."

"Dammit," Lassiter muttered. "That was three hours ago. They could already be up at the cabin for all we know. We need to send a car up there immediately."

"Carlton?" Juliet asked, "what's…going on?" Her voice was garbled and the sound of static overpowered her words.

Lassiter shook his cell phone in the futile hope that he wouldn't lose the connection. "O'Hara! You're breaking up," He tried one more time.

"Carl-" and then there was just silence from the other line.

"Dammit!" Lassiter shouted. "We need to send someone up there, Chief."

"I'll look into it," she assured him. "But I can't just send officers up the mountain based off of a hunch. Until we have more evidence, I don't want a word of this getting out. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Chief," Lassiter agreed, knowing it would be pointless to argue with her.

Karen nodded. "I'll keep you updated, Detective," she told him, indicating he was dismissed. Lassiter started to leave, holding the door open for Henry.

"I'll be out in a minute, Lassiter," Henry told him, turning back to the chief. Lassiter was curious about what Henry would say to Vick, but the older man's body language was clearly telling him he wanted privacy. He nodded and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

"We need to get them off the mountain," Henry insisted once Lassiter had left.

"Henry, I already told you and Detective Lassiter, I will look into it. But at the moment we don't even know if they are in any danger. Now if you don't mind, I am very busy. Once news stations start reporting on Estevez's escape, it's going to be a madhouse in here."

Henry shook his head in frustration. "It isn't just Estevez, Karen. Gus thinks that Shawn has Decompression Sickness from his little diving expedition yesterday. They need to get off the mountain and Shawn needs to get to a hospital immediately."

Karen sighed heavily, her face showing worry for the first time since the whole ordeal had started. "Are you sure?"

Henry nodded. "Pretty sure. And it sounds like he's getting worse. They got my truck stuck in a ditch last night so they don't have any way of getting back down the mountain on their own."

Vick sat quietly for a few moments and the silence in the room was deafening. "I will try my best, Henry. But with the weather that we've been having, I'm not sure it's safe for anyone to try and make it up to Big Pine at the moment."

Henry clenched his fists, lowering his head to look at the floor. He knew the truth in what Karen was saying, but he also knew that his son was in trouble. "If you don't send help up there within the hour, I'll go up to Big Pine by myself," he said decisively, meeting Karen's eyes before turning to leave.

"Henry!" Karen shouted after him, but he was already out the door. She watched him for a minute, briefly contemplating going after him. Instead, she picked up the phone and started dialing, hoping she'd finally get some good news.

Henry sat down at O'Hara's desk and pulled out his cell phone, scanning through the contacts before he found who he was looking for.

"Spencer, what are you doing?" Lassiter asked, standing over him.

Henry looked up, lowering his phone. "If the chief won't send anyone up that mountain, I'm going to go myself." He looked back at his phone.

"Who are you calling?"

Henry eyed Lassiter impatiently. "Sal Barber. It's his cabin and he has a big truck that can handle almost any terrain. I'm sure he'll let me borrow it if I explain the situation."

"Did you tell the Chief what you were planning?"

"I no longer work for the department, Detective. What I do does not concern you or Karen. Now if you're done, I really need to make this call."

Lassiter put his hand over Henry's phone, preventing him from dialing. "Henry, my partner is up on that mountain too, so what you do or plan to do does concern me." Henry didn't put his phone down, eyeing the Detective. Lassiter took that as his cue to keep talking. "Henry, you can't go up there alone. You were shot just a few months ago. These men are armed and dangerous. Just wait a little longer."

"I told Karen if she didn't send her men up there within the hour, I'd go by myself. And I plan to do that. But I need to call Sal to make sure I can get his truck since my only form of transportation is Juliet's green Beetle. Don't worry, Detective. I'm not planning to leave just yet."

Lassiter smirked a little as he pictured Henry driving his partner's tiny car. "One hour," he agreed. "In the meantime I'll try to get through to O'Hara again," he told Henry, heading back to his own desk, satisfied that Spencer senior wasn't going to do anything crazy or stupid. At least not yet.

* * *

"Carlton!" Juliet had been in the middle of shouting her partner's name when the phone lost service. "Dammit," she muttered, echoing Lassiter's sentiments.

"Did they say they'd send help?" Gus asked. He had been in the kitchen finishing up making the omelets for a good portion of the conversation.

Juliet shook her head. "I'm not sure. I don't think Vick was convinced about Robertson though. She put the cell phone back down on the ottoman and helped Gus with the plates, bringing them over to Shawn. He was half-sitting up on the couch, slumped over the armrest, his head pillowed on his outstretched arm. "Shawn, want some breakfast?" Juliet asked, shaking his good arm slightly.

He groaned, lifting his head up to look at her. She reached out and turned his head gently, examining the dark bruise that was blossoming over the left side of his head. He hissed at her touch but didn't pull away.

"Sorry, sorry," she murmured, tracing a hand through his hair. "That looks painful."

"Uh huh," Shawn agreed, pressing his right hand against his temple. "My head is killing me," he said miserably.

"I have some painkillers in my kit, but I don't know about you taking them with the Bends and possible concussion," Gus said uncertainly.

Shawn groaned again. "I'm willing to risk it."

Gus looked at Juliet for confirmation. Juliet nodded. "Nothing too strong though." Gus put the breakfast plates down and went to his bag to retrieve the painkillers. He returned quickly with a glass of water.

"You can't take these on an empty stomach," he said, handing the pills to Shawn and the glass of water to Juliet. Shawn made a noise of disgust at that, swallowing thickly.

"I don't think food is such a good idea right now," he said, eyeing the plates Gus had placed on the table.

"The eggs are light. They shouldn't be too hard on your stomach," Gus said, trying to convince him. "At least have some toast."

Shawn still seemed uncertain.

"Just a little, Shawn," Juliet coaxed. You'll feel more nauseous if you take the pills on an empty stomach."

Shawn nodded reluctantly. "Fine," he agreed, taking the glass of water from Juliet and quickly downing the pills. Gus got a snack table and placed it in front of Shawn, bringing over the plate with eggs and toast. "Thanks, Buddy."

Gus nodded. "Don't mention it." He brought a plate over for Juliet and he pulled a chair over for himself. They ate in silence for a little while. Gus barely tasted the eggs as he watched his friend miserably poke at the food. After about fifteen minutes, Shawn placed his fork down and slumped back against the couch.

"You done?" Juliet asked, receiving a slight nod from Shawn. He closed his eyes and pressed his head back against the couch.

"Does your head feel any better?" Gus asked.

Shawn opened one eye, nodding slightly. "A little."

"Good," Gus nodded. He took a few more bites of eggs, and then placed his own fork down. He took Juliet's and Shawn's plates into the kitchen to clear them off. When he returned to the den, Juliet was helping Shawn lay down on the couch again, saying something too quietly for Gus to hear. He went back to the kitchen for a few minutes to give them some privacy. When he returned to the den, Shawn looked like he was sleeping and Juliet was once again trying her luck with the cell phone, her back to Gus.

"He okay?" Juliet turned around and looked at Gus, quickly wiping her eyes. She nodded, forcing a smile.

"Jules…" Gus started, walking towards her. "Are you okay."

"I'm fine," Juliet reassured him. She wiped her eyes again, letting out a mix between a sob and a laugh. "I don't even know why I'm crying."

Gus put a hand on her shoulder. "Shawn will be fine. I'm sure Lassiter is already on his way up here as we speak."

Juliet nodded again, but she didn't seem convinced. "This is all my fault." She sat down on the ottoman, dropping her head into her hands.

"You mean you forced Shawn to go SCUBA diving?"

Juliet choked out a laugh, shaking her head. "I mean Estevez. He was in the room when I told Lassiter where we were going. If I hadn't been so careless, there would be no risk of him coming up here right now."

Gus sat down in the armchair, putting a hand on Juliet's arm. "Jules, if Robertson really is Estevez's partner, then he would have known about the cabin well before Estevez heard you talking about it with Lassie. Shawn and I wouldn't shut up about it all week - it would have been impossible for Robertson not to hear us."

Juliet lifted her head up to look at Gus, and he could tell that had worked a little. She nodded slightly but her face didn't break a smile.

"It's Gus's fault," Shawn mumbled from the couch.

Jules did smile at that. "Oh yeah?" she asked. "Somehow I doubt that, Shawn."

"It's true," Shawn insisted, pushing himself up with his right arm. "He was sooo excited about coming up here. Don't deny it, Gus." Shawn still seemed sick, but some of his characteristic silliness was returning and Juliet hoped that meant the meds were working at least a little.

Gus nodded. "Shawn's right. I love this cabin. Too bad this weekend was a bust. I wanted Rachel to see it too..." Gus trailed off, remembering about his girlfriend who was supposed to meet them up here. Today.

"You forgot to call Rachel, didn't you?" Shawn asked.

Gus glared at his best friend. "I've been a little preoccupied. Besides the fact that we have no service."

"Coulda told me dad to tell her."

"Shawn," Juliet scolded, shooting her boyfriend a look.

"I'm just kidding, Buddy. I'm sure she wouldn't come up here without speaking with you first. Just ask my dad to call her the next time we get through."

Gus nodded, calming down. "You're right. Nothing to worry about."

"Well besides the serial killers headed up here to finish us," Shawn needlessly added, sinking back down so his head was on the pillows and closing his eyes, drained.

"It'll be fine," Juliet reassured Gus. "I've got my gun and a pretty good amount of ammo. Do you know if Sal keeps any other guns up here?"

"There used to be a hunting cabin out back," Shawn answered. "But I don't know if Sal still keeps his guns in there. And he always kept it padlocked."

Juliet nodded, standing up. "I can shoot the lock off if necessary. Gus, you stay here with Shawn, I'll be right back."

"What do I do if they arrive before you get back?"

Juliet looked around for something to use as a weapon. "Here," she said, finding an ax standing up next to the door.

Gus looked hesitantly at the ax, sincerely hoping he wouldn't have to use it.

"I'll be quick, I promise."

"Jules," Shawn said, struggling to sit up again. "I don't think you should go alone."

Juliet crouched down by Shawn's head. "Shawn, I'm a trained detective, I'll be fine. And I'm not leaving you here by yourself. If Estevez and Robertson do make it up here, we're going to need more than just my gun to hold them off."

Shawn nodded reluctantly. "Be careful?" he asked quietly.

"I promise," Juliet told him, kissing him on the forehead. She turned and headed out the back door of the cabin in the direction Gus had told her.

Gus stood up, hefting the axe over his shoulder, daring anyone to try and enter the cabin.

"You ready, Gus?" Shawn asked, now sitting up completely. His head was still pounding but he couldn't rest now. Not when the threat of intruders was so high and when his girlfriend was out in the storm alone.

Gus nodded, clutching the ax more tightly. "Let's twist this."

* * *

Thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed that chapter. More soon.


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